


A Day Away

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Series: An A.Z. Kimrean Story [1]
Category: This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us - Edgar Cantero
Genre: Gen, Oneshot, Post-Canon, Siblings, Wordcount: 100-1.000, the author doesn’t know how to like things casually someone help them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 17:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20531894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: INT. A. Z. KIMREAN’S OFFICE - NIGHTWhen the cloak of darkness had finally fallen over the city of San Francisco —or at least, as dark as the pretense of a cloak ever got, given the ridiculous amount of unnecessary lighting that the entire city seemed to pride itself on— A.Z. Kimrean stole away to their poor, maltreated office for one final, emotional (in one of their cases) revue.





	A Day Away

**Author's Note:**

> _Help me I’ve fallen for Ayzee and I can’t get up._
> 
> God, I can’t believe I finished the book last night. I have... so many Big Feelings in my chest for them. W o w.

INT. A. Z. KIMREAN’S OFFICE - NIGHT

When the cloak of darkness had finally fallen over the city of San Francisco —or at least, as dark as the pretense of a cloak ever got, given the ridiculous amount of unnecessary lighting that the entire city seemed to pride itself on— A.Z. Kimrean stole away to their poor, maltreated office for one final, emotional (in one of their cases) revue. 

It was a fitting goodbye, they supposed. After all, they’d first entered the place at night, too. It was only fair that they left it in the very same manner, albeit in quite a bit more broken of a state than the way they had originally found it.

Silently, they packed up their belongings, ignoring the dust and debris from the fight with the neckless thug that felt like it had happened years prior (had it really only been a few days?) and sniffed briefly at the empty whiskey bottle in the trash bin that they already knew was devoid of any precious content. 

“We’re out of poptarts,” Kimrean said in a low tone, shaking the lifeless aluminum packaging above the desk to demonstrate. The green eye had the presence of mind to look away in shame. 

“We can steal some more,” Zooey replied, though it was weaker than her usual fervent demeanour, especially as her gaze skirted uncomfortably along the empty syringes on the ground and fell upon the discarded toaster lying innocuously beside them. “Ade—“

“Don’t.” Adrian stopped his counterpart easily. He didn’t need to hear her say aloud the things that had been roiling and churning about in their head since they’d awoken in the hospital bed together. He didn’t _ want _to hear her say it. It was unnecessary; they’d fought, they’d both taken actions that were regrettable in their nature, and now they needed to move on. 

They _ had _to move on. Their very lives depended on it.

Zooey: No. No! You don’t get to shut me up. I wanna talk. 

Adrian: I don’t want to hear it. 

Zooey: That’s not fair. I listen to you when you talk. _ (beat) _ Okay, I listen to you _ sometimes _when you talk. I listen when it’s important! I deserve to get a chance to be important, too! 

Kimrean stooped down to pick up the toaster, using their slowly-healing right hand to gingerly remove the plug from the wall. “Fine. Say your piece.”

Zooey twisted their lips into a frown. “I shouldn’t have burned your hand,” she said. It wasn’t rehearsed; the line came out as naturally as it might have if the thought had been occurring to her for the first time. “Next time I’m mad at you, I’ll just stick to beating the shit out of you myself. I think that’s a lot easier in the long run, don’t you?” 

It wasn’t quite the apology Adrian had expected, but in hindsight, he really should have seen it coming. A soothing calm settled over his side of their shared consciousness as he silently accepted the only apology Zooey was verbally capable of offering. “Noted,” he replied. Their left hand swept their bangs away from their brown eye and straightened their hat in a gesture that carried just as much practicality as it did sentimentality. “We should get out of here before someone comes looking for us. They’ll be checking here.” Adrian gave the room a quick once-over examination. “Since they haven’t yet.”

They both knew that _ someone, _ and _ they, _ could just as easily have been replaced with _ Mom, _and the thought filled both halves of their joined mind with trepidation. Neither of them wanted to be caught. 

Neither wanted to be returned to the hospital, to a mental ward, to their shared unfortunate prison. 

Zooey clapped their hands together. “Well, we’d better get moving!” she drawled, inserting a false, too-peppy cheeriness into their voice. Adrian rolled their eyes with vague annoyance, but didn’t bother to reply verbally.

Their belongings were easily tucked away in a makeshift sack fashioned clichély from their grimy bedsheet. They left the mattress behind —it was much too big to carry in their injured-but-healing state— but tucked the toaster and the chessboard with as many chess pieces as they could gather inside of their new bag. 

“I feel like Little Orphan Annie,” Zooey mused aloud. “_Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya! Tomorrow!” _She snuck her hand towards the trash again.

Adrian grabbed her wrist, right hand gripping left in an iron hold. “Zooey.”

Zooey heaved a huge sigh, large and unsettling enough to disturb some of the chunks of plaster hanging precariously from the opposite wall. “_Fine.” _

Shouldering their sack like a runaway child in a bad ‘80s sitcom, Kimrean crept out of their office one final time, snagging a long strand of police tape and wrapping it around themself like a Miss America sash as they limped off into the crowded, light-polluted night. 

Zooey turned their thin lips upwards into a devious smirk, explaining to an Adrian that was hardly paying her any attention that they deserved the souvenir. Adrian, more focused on making sure they weren’t spotted by anyone important to the plot, only peeled himself as far from her obnoxious rambling thoughts as he possibly could and peered around corner after corner until they’d reached a busy-enough street to relax. 

There was safety in numbers, all things considered. More people meant less eyes on them and more attention spread throughout the rest of the crowd, and right now, that was exactly what they needed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title and quoted song are from the musical _Annie_. I don’t own them. Duh? 
> 
> This definitely happened after Z. crashed an ambulance and hobbled away as fast as their poor legs could take them, but you didn’t hear it from me. 
> 
> Kudos/comments are love! Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans.


End file.
